How to Disable IP Source Routing in Windows

IP source routing is a mechanism that allows the sender to specify the path or route in a network which the network traffic should take to reach the destination.

It is completely legitimate if you use this IP source routing mechanism to discover the TCP/IP addresses of routers within a network. However, a malicious user can use source routing to learn more about a network and target it for an attack. With the IP Source Routing data hijacked, the attackers host can use the information to easily masquerade as a trusted host or client due to which disabling IP Source routing is considered as a common security measure.

Now, let’s dive into the actual process of How To Disable IP Source Routing in Windows.1. Go to Start–>Run… and type regedit or regedt32.exe and click OK.This opens the Registry Editor window

2. From the left pane of the Registry Editor navigate to the System keyHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters

3. Now create a new DWORD value with the Value name ‘DisableIPSourceRouting’ and set its value data to 2 which disables the source routing completely (recommended for best security).